Trip to visit Grammy!

The first part of our little June get-away was to Cadillac, Michigan where I grew up. I've only been back around Christmas-time (which is freezing) and it was so nice to remember how nice it is in the Summer. The town is basically built around two lakes connected by a little canal and almost everywhere you go, you're driving around Lake Cadillac to get there. We had perfect weather (like 75 degrees and sunny everyday) and our little cabin was about 15 feet from the lake (Lake Mitchell). I loved waking up every morning to the beautiful sunrise on the lake. God is so creative and magnificent in his attention to detail with even the routine things like a sunrise. Lakes are so much different than the ocean too - awesome in a different way. It was nice to smell the lake air and see pine trees, birch trees, and oaks right up next to the water. I truly miss experiencing this part of God's creation - and didn't realize it until this trip.

Anyway... they had a sandbox out back, so we decided to let Noa dig around in there. She's never played in a sandbox before and didn't really know what to do, but after she got the hang of it, she didn't want to leave!

Of course the main thing she wanted to do was eat the sand. I don't think she liked it, but that didn't stop her from continuing to try and eat it.

Mom was so nice to organize a lunch with her and Peter, Abby (my sister) and Jason (her boyfriend), Chris (my brother) and Jenni (his girlfriend) and us. It was just so nice to relax and spend the day with all of them - and eat, eat, eat!


We enjoyed our lake view while Noa bounced from person to person and got in and out of those red chairs all afternoon.

Who says you can't stay in your PJ's all day? Mommy does it all the time!

Noa and Grammy

"Umm... guys, why are you putting me in this thing?"

Noa and Jenni

We had constant help - a nice benefit to visiting family...

Our dear friends Barb and George came over for lunch one afternoon and finally got to meet Noa!

Russ and I had a chance to go out while Mom watched Noa. We chose Lakeside Charlie's and weren't disappointed. We had a great meal and some time to ourselves and Grammy had so much fun with Noa too!

One morning I went to get Noa up and she had peed all over herself, her blankets, her PJ's - everything. So, we had to have our morning bottle in the sink to wash off. Daddy slept right through it all!

We had some geese constantly wanting to visit. Seems like a neat little thing but they were actually quite annoying. But notice our view! I should've taken better pictures, but trust me, the lake was right there!

The Simple Life

Wow. I feel refreshed. There's nothing like cool northern air and incredible lake views to give you a fresh perspective. I have so many pictures to post from our trip, but I'll do that another night. I've gotta organize it all in my head. For right now, I'm just letting everyone know that I am no longer a part of the Facebook community. Sad? No. Not really. Having a break from the internet for 2 weeks really changed my perspective on the amount of time I was spending on it.

I would like to say that I've always been a fan of simple things. Being up north and revisiting small-town America really reminded me of that. We visited my friend Korlyn who has recently moved to an old farmhouse on about 20 acres, complete with a huge garden, compost pile, and beautiful nature views everywhere you look. We spent an afternoon there and it was so refreshing to hear their story about a more holisitic approach to life.

Here's me & Korlyn, babies in tow. We both felt so weird taking this picture, but whatever. This is her 4th child and she's a few weeks away from delivery - only gained 20 pounds so far! I so wish we lived closer.

Grace (Korlyn's oldest)took Noa around in their little JEEP. She could've ridden that thing all day long!

We also spent a morning with Abby and her horse Scout. Russ was able to ride with her and her boyfriend Jason on a trail and I think he even got Scout up to a gallup. Anyway, Abby also walked around with Noa for a few minutes too and she just loved it. There really is something about God's creation and just being immersed in it in so many different ways.




Russ and Noa meeting a little calf who just loved to suck on their fingers!

Anyway... all that to say, I think aiming for simplicity is a good thing for me and a good thing for my heart. I really long to do more of what I love, like quilting, writing letters, spending face-to-face time with friends and family, and allowing more time in each day to hear the Lord's voice and follow his leading. I'm sure I'll write more on this later, just wanted to give you a heads-up if you've been looking for me on FB. Hopefully we can connect more in real life as opposed to virtual life. :)

30 weeks down, 10 to go!

Way to grow, Ruthie! I thought we should take another picture of my belly since we've been very bad about it this time around. The only thing I'm bummed about is that you can't see my cute jean skirt that I just bought. It was definitely time to amp up the preggo wardrobe. Even so, I think all I still wear is black - gotta break out into some summer colors or something.

Chicks and Daddy - Best Buds

New Summer PJ's!

If you've never seen Noa make her silly face it is really funny! She just started doing it one day for no reason at all. We always laugh at her and now that she's figured that out we're doing silly faces all the time. Kind of hard to capture it with the camera - but here's an attempt while she's eating her new favorite - BLUEBERRIES!!!

Lovin' Litchfield

Last week we found a Toddler bed on Craigslist and decided to go for it. Noa's definitely not ready for it yet, but it was a good deal and it will allow me to start working on the bedding before Ruthie comes. In the meantime though, we might as well have bought a jungle jim for her - she climbs all over that thing all day long. In. Out. In. Out. Giggle. Fall. Cry. Giggle. In. Out. In. Out... Our days go something like that. I just hope we can get her to sleep in it when it's actually time to!

By the way... What the heck is going on with her hair lately? Our little raggamuffin...

We had the opportunity earlier this week to go to Litchfield (about 2 hours north of Charleston) for a day and a half conference. Matt, Chris, and Russ went to the conference all day and Ashley, Shelley, and myself stayed with our kids in a 3 bedroom condo. It was so nice to have some time together even though a lot of it was craziness with the kids. We hung out by the pool a little bit, talked and laughed a lot, and tried our best to organize everyone's naps so our kid wouldn't wake another kid up. Seems like we could never quite get that down, but it was still worth it - especially when the kids were down for the night and we could finally have some grown-up time! Anyway... it was fun and we should definitely do it again!

Tub time for Lilly and Noa

Here's the difference between being in the 10th percentile (Lilly), and being in the 97th percentile (ah-hem... Noa). :)

Noa and Eli sharing an afternoon snack. Yummy watermelon! Noa's hair's struggling again... greased down from sunscreen. Oh well... she's still the cutest girl I've ever seen!

A word about Ruthie

If you didn't know, we decided to name our next girl Ruthie Joy and she's coming in about two and a half months! Anyway... I haven't taken the time to write much about this pregnancy, so I thought I would let you in on the latest.

I've definitely been feeling gigantic lately! When I went to the OB 2 weeks ago, I had of course gained more weight, and felt depressed about it, but also challenged to work on it a little more. Anyway... I ended up accidentally taking my chart home. I decided to look and see what I was at this point (29 weeks) with Noa, since I only gained 27 pounds total with her (much less than I would've expected to gain), and I was just sure I was WAY heavier this time. Nope. I am actually a half pound lighter! How? I don't know! But, that made me feel a little better about where I'm at in this stage of my pregnancy. And today I hadn't gained any weight since last time! I thought I had just let myself go and after figuring this out, I came to the conclusion that I'm sure every pregnant woman just thinks their weight is a run-away train. Because it is! Huge bellies are just part of it, right?! :)

So, today we had another ultrasound. Ruthie's head was down and she's facing the back (perfect position), and she'll most likely stay that way, but there's a chance that she'll move too - as babies sometimes do. So, we're just praying she stays this way. She's been kicking away like crazy, and I guess I have definitely felt like her feet were up at the top of my belly, so the ultrasound just confirms what I was already thinking. Anyway, she's still definitely a girl. Nothing sprouted up between this appointment and the last one. According to the ultrasound she weighs 3 pounds 6 ounces at this point, which measures about 4 days ahead of schedule, but just about normal. So, 70th percentile in weight (typical for diabetic moms), but you know... ultrasound technology isn't fool-proof either. The true weight of the baby can be as much as 2 pounds heavier or lighter than what the ultrasound shows - so I guess we really won't know how big she'll be until she decides to come!

The best news though was that the placenta has moved up a little bit, so it isn't considered placenta previa anymore (placenta was blocking Ruthie's exit), and is just considered a low lying placenta, which will not hinder a vaginal delivery! Yay! This is incredible news, especially since I just heard a very scary c-section story last night and I was starting to get a little anxious about it. Of course, we are still praying that Ruthie doesn't get too big in the womb (leading to a c-section), so I'm not out of the woods with that idea yet, but I'm so glad that we can at least check placenta previa off the list. Thank you Lord! And, as far as the weight thing goes, Noa was 9 pounds 7 ounces and I pushed her out in 45 minutes - so bring it on! I think I can handle big babies!

Well... that's the latest. Unfortunately, Ruthie wasn't in a good position for any face pictures, but I do have some fun pictures of Noa Jane that I have yet to download. Russ and I went to a conference with some friends the last few days and I have a few pictures from that trip that I would like to post. Of course, housework is always calling my name. I'll just have to pace myself with the blogging...

Much love!
Jackie